Inter hatch Villas-Boas plan

Rejected by Marcelo Bielsa and apparently Sinisa Mihajlovic, Inter are hatching a plan to take Andre Villas-Boas and striker Radamel Falcao from Porto.

Over the past 24 hours, the Nerazzurri have lost Coach Leonardo to his new job as director general of Paris Saint-Germain, been turned down by Bielsa due to “personal reasons” and seen Fiorentina cling to Mihajlovic.

An official statement was expected from the Viola confirming this, but it did not materialise, fuelling rumours Inter have until Monday to come in for Mihajlovic or look elsewhere.

The options are becoming increasingly limited for the Nerazzurri, who could now turn their attention towards Europa League winners Porto.

Villas-Boas is a big target for many clubs in Europe and seen as the new Pep Guardiola, having found huge success with entertaining football at the age of 33.

The Portuguese tactician has also been linked with Chelsea, among others, but has a €15m buy-out clause on his contract.

According to SportItalia and several Portuguese newspapers, that clause becomes void if Porto sell one of their top stars.

With this in mind, Inter could kill two birds with one stone by snapping up striker Falcao and therefore wiping out the cost of bringing in Villas-Boas.

It's unclear if this is a written clause in his contract or a verbal agreement with Porto.

Villas-Boas would also be recommended to Inter by his mentor, Jose Mourinho.

The other alternatives remain England manager Fabio Capello or the out of contract Guus Hiddink, Gian Piero Gasperini and Delio Rossi.